PHILO 105

(Good Governance
and Social Responsibility)

FIRST TERM, SCHOOL YEAR 2019 - 2020

RATIONALE FOR
GOOD GOVER –
NANCE AND SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
DEFINITION, NATURE, AND FUNCTION
OF BUSINESS: BASIC CONCEPTS

=> BUSINESS any lawful activity

engaged in by human beings which
involves producing and exchanging of
goods and services so as to have a
means of livelihood or as a source of
profit (Gorospe and Quintos, 1995).
BASIC CONCEPTS:
* All business is essentially an expression
of human relationships;
* All stakeholders are entitled to receive
the proper worth of their contributions;
* The human resources have a unique
quality and should be employed in a
manner consistent with personal
dignity;
BASIC CONCEPTS:
* Business enterprise has a public
responsibility to use all its resources
efficiently;
* Competition and inventiveness are
essential for the maintenance and
continuing improvement of the quality
of goods and services for growth and for
technological progress;
BASIC CONCEPTS:
* In business, as in any other institution
of the society, any right or authority
enjoyed by or entrusted to business
should do their corresponding duties,
responsibilities, and performance.
MAIN FORCES THAT INFLUENCE OR
SHAPE FUTURE BUSINESS:
• Better - quality management
(preventing wastage of resources);
• Better production (machine – based
and machine – directed);
• Growing use of technology (computer
manufacture, electronic products,
and technologies);
MAIN FORCES THAT INFLUENCE OR
SHAPE FUTURE BUSINESS:
• Use of Computers (a factor of
production);
• Environmental Protection (ecological
issues like population explosion,
deterioration of the environment or
pollution)
• Expansion beyond national
boundaries
BUSINESS AND ITS VARIOUS PUBLICS:
• Employees
• Customers
• Suppliers
• Owners
• Competitors
• Regulators
• Interest Groups
NATURE AND FORMS OF ETHICS AND
ETHICAL STANDARDS:

Ethics
– refers to the theory of morality
or right conduct. Are moral standards of
right and wrong in conduct, judgment,
and behavior (Gow and Miranda, 2000).
ORIGIN OF ETHICS
1. Ethics arose because there was a
demand for it;
2. It arose in actual life situations;

Ethics relies mainly on the proper use

of sound reason. It consists of a
practical and normative study and
evaluation of the rightness and
wrongness of voluntary human acts.
NATURE OF ETHICAL STANDARDS (ES)
(Articulo and Florendo, 2003):
1. ES is not necessarily the same as
the common practices or tacit rules of
conduct observed by an organization;
2. The nature of the standard of right
conduct depends generally on what
theory of morality is adopted by society
or by the firm.
COMPARING ETHICAL STANDARDS (ES)
AND LEGAL STANDARDS (LS):

1. ES sets what actions ethical and

unethical while LS sets what are legal
and illegal:
2. ES are largely unwritten while LS
are written, clear, and definite;
DIFFERENCES OF ES AND LS:

1. ES are not laid down by

authoritative bodies;
2. ES override self-interests;
3. ES are usually associated with
emotions like guilt and shame.
TWO SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF ES:

1. They establish a mutually beneficial

system of conduct;
2. They provide acceptable
justifications for actions and
policies.
TYPES OF ETHICAL STANDARDS:

1. ES based on Utility

2. ES based on Moral Rights

3. ES based on (Social) Justice

ES BASED ON UTILITY
* it evaluates policies, institutions,
and behaviors in terms of the net social
benefits and costs they produce. This
proceeds from the Principle of Utility or
Utilitarianism which states that an act
is good if it promotes the greatest
amount of happiness to the greatest
number of people.
ES BASED ON MORAL RIGHTS
* it evaluates policies, institutions,
and behaviors in terms of the protection
they provide for the rights and freedom
of individuals. Simply stated, any policy
or act that respects or protects the
rights of individuals is ethical while
those that violate them are unethical.
RIGHTS may either be legal or moral.
Legal rights are rights which are limited
to the particular jurisdiction of a legal
system from which such rights are
derived. It is formally recognized and
enforced by society. Moral rights are
also known as human rights. This are
sacred properties of man as beings
naturally endowed with sense of dignity.
CLASSES OF RIGHTS:

1. Moral – Natural Rights (are rights

afforded by God like right to life, right
against inhumane treatment and
punishment, etc..);
2. Constitutional Rights (are rights
conferred and protected by the
fundamental law of the land);
CLASSES OF RIGHTS:

3. Statutory Rights (are rights derived

from the law-giving body of the State).
These include right to minimum wage
and to additional compensation for
additional work.
ES BASED ON (SOCIAL) JUSTICE
* it evaluates institutions and
behaviors in terms of how equitably
they distribute benefits and burdens
among members of the group.

JUSTICE means giving what is due for a

person or giving what a person
deserves.
KINDS OF JUSTICE:
1. Retributive Justice refers to the
just imposition of punishments such as
fines, imprisonment, and even death
upon those who do wrong.
2. Distributive Justice concerns the
fair distribution of society’s benefits
and burdens among its members.
THREE MAJOR THEORIES OF
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE:
1. Egalitarian Theory of Justice. It
claims that everyone should be given
equal share of benefits and burdens.
2. Capitalist Theory of Justice. It
claims that any benefit should be
distributed according to the
contribution of each individual.
* Contribution means participation in
productive endeavors.

3. Social Theory of Justice. It claims

that work burdens should be distributed
according to people’s abilities, while
benefits should be distributed according
to people. Social Justice means nothing
more than the fair distribution of
wealth.
Other Ethical Standards:
1. Situation Ethics – a contemporary
theory of morality which stresses the
importance of considering the situation
or the morally significant situations in
which the moral act is performed.
2. ES based on Religion or Religious
Doctrines. These standards view the
morality of an act neither on its motives
or consequences but solely on whether
the act is in accordance with the
articles of faith.
CHARACTERISTICS THAT CONSTITUTE
ETHICAL PERSON:
1. Wisdom – consists of intelligence
grounded in experience;
2. Courage – determination to stand
behind one’s decisions or to admit a
wrong decision;
3. Temperance – is the ability of see
the extreme positions of an issue and to
steer a middle course;
CHARACTERISTICS THAT CONSTITUTE
ETHICAL PERSON:
4. Justice – the constant desire to
render to every man his due;
5. Conscience – it is man’s faithful
friend and ally. It represents the
capacity for recognizing situations that
call for ethical decision-making.
FACILITATIVE FUNCTIONS OF ETHICAL
STANDARDS:

1. They foster the development of

mutuality of confidence;
2. They make easier or make
convenient the determination of
business courses of action;
FACILITATIVE FUNCTIONS OF ETHICAL
STANDARDS:

3. They help pave the way to the

prompt, amicable adjustment of
differences or misunderstandings;
4. They help insure the continuity of
conditions that are necessary for
equality of opportunity in business.
BUSINESS ETHICS
- refers to the standards of right and
wrong that guides the behaviour and the
decision-making of business
organizations and the individuals in
these organizations (Gorospe and
Quintos, 1995).
- it examines ethical principles and
moral/ethical problems that can arise in
a business environment.
BUSINESS ETHICS can be both
NORMATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE.

Normative – it follows set of norms

(standards of behavior expected from a
group)

Descriptive – it employs descriptive

methods of understanding.
SCOPE OF BUSINESS ETHICS:

1. Conduct (to act or behave in a

particularly controlled manner)
2. Judgment (the process of forming
an opinion or evaluation by discerning
and comparing)
3. Behavior (the way in which
someone conducts oneself)